Best Examples of Instructional Activities with Student Engagement through Technology
Description
Instructional technology is any implementation of technology that students themselves use to become more engaged in the subject material. Such technology can be something as simple as Microsoft PowerPoint or podcasting, or something more complex like web design or web conferencing. To determine the best examples of instructional activities with student engagement through technology that I have seen in my school or used in my own classroom, I simply thought back to activities in which students were engaged, motivated, and excited to come to class. After compiling that mental list, I recalled which of those activities used technology as an engagement tool and the top two were the activities I highlighted in the assignment. These examples are the best for the simple reasons that I mentioned earlier: they engage and motivate the student, they use technology in an innovative way, and they excite the students and their teachers.
Want your students to find out what it's like to be the teacher? Here's an idea you might like...
Reflection
When I first read the synopsis for the assignment, I felt stressed and panicked. How on earth was I supposed to think back to all of the instructional activities I've seen and used and limit myself to only two activities. But when I finally began the assignment, I quickly realized a stark truth: technology is being vastly underused in the classroom; and in classrooms where it is being used, that usage only scratches the surface of efficiency and innovation. In hindsight, I feel that this was the secret purpose of the assignment -- not to share our best examples and disseminate ideas and activities to our fellow classmates, but to help us realize that technology is being misrepresented in our halls of education and that we must be the torch-bearers if we wish to affect change and help our students to become 21st century learners.
Best Examples of Instructional Activities with Student Engagement through Technology
Description
Instructional technology is any implementation of technology that students themselves use to become more engaged in the subject material. Such technology can be something as simple as Microsoft PowerPoint or podcasting, or something more complex like web design or web conferencing. To determine the best examples of instructional activities with student engagement through technology that I have seen in my school or used in my own classroom, I simply thought back to activities in which students were engaged, motivated, and excited to come to class. After compiling that mental list, I recalled which of those activities used technology as an engagement tool and the top two were the activities I highlighted in the assignment. These examples are the best for the simple reasons that I mentioned earlier: they engage and motivate the student, they use technology in an innovative way, and they excite the students and their teachers.
Reflection
When I first read the synopsis for the assignment, I felt stressed and panicked. How on earth was I supposed to think back to all of the instructional activities I've seen and used and limit myself to only two activities. But when I finally began the assignment, I quickly realized a stark truth: technology is being vastly underused in the classroom; and in classrooms where it is being used, that usage only scratches the surface of efficiency and innovation. In hindsight, I feel that this was the secret purpose of the assignment -- not to share our best examples and disseminate ideas and activities to our fellow classmates, but to help us realize that technology is being misrepresented in our halls of education and that we must be the torch-bearers if we wish to affect change and help our students to become 21st century learners.